Good games that are actually rubbish.

[iprice]

Explorer - Amstrad CPC.

40 billion locations!!! (All but 5 look exactly the same)

 

[Asatiir]

Evoland

Promising concept, shitty execution.

No replay value at all.

I double that notion, it could have been much better.

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Wii)

Here's a game I was looking forward to a long time back. It looked promising, a strangely colorful post-apocalyptic world to explore, dark areas that will require the use of flashlights got me quite interested. The game ended up having a completely convoluted story that goes nowhere, uninteresting one dimensional characters, stupid enemy designs (ghost pigeons are the dumbest enemies I've seen by far) and horrid battle controls... the battle controls are so bad even the enemies will have trouble trying to hit you, seriously. I had hopes of a jrpg fantasy take of a fallout like world (I know that's cringing to some, but hey it could be done right with the proper effort, right?) and it turned out to be one of the worst games I have ever played.

 

[DatNOBoi]

I hope y'all got some more room on the Final Fantasy 7 Hatred Express.

A safe Top Ten pick for one of the most overrated games of all time. No question. "It made a broader audience fall in love with its niche!" Yeah, so did sliced bread, but you don't hear everyone and their nan going beserk about how revolutionary it was for "less wealthy" cuisine at the drop of the words "cheep food items."

If you stripped Final Fantasy 7 of its pretty graphics and decent character customization, both of which are the only distinguishing features of this game, it becomes yet another Final Fantasy. Also, an androgynous orphan with a fantasy sword that would make Guts chuckle is definitely not one of my favorite video game protagonists. "Badass super soldier?" Samus says hello. "But she's a bounty hunter, not a soldier!" Same purpose, different goals.

Also, my entry for "good games that are actually rubbish" is Castlevania for the Nintendo 64. I had a blast playing this game back then. Nowadays, every time I look at the cartridge, I go, "Why did I like it so much?!" Good grief....

 

[rygD]

I hope y'all got some more room on the Final Fantasy 7 Hatred Express.

A safe Top Ten pick for one of the most overrated games of all time. No question. "It made a broader audience fall in love with its niche!" Yeah, so did sliced bread, but you don't hear everyone and their nan going beserk about how revolutionary it was for "less wealthy" cuisine at the drop of the words "cheep food items."

If you stripped Final Fantasy 7 of its pretty graphics and decent character customization, both of which are the only distinguishing features of this game, it becomes yet another Final Fantasy. Also, an androgynous orphan with a fantasy sword that would make Guts chuckle is definitely not one of my favorite video game protagonists. "Badass super soldier?" Samus says hello. "But she's a bounty hunter, not a soldier!" Same purpose, different goals.

Also, my entry for "good games that are actually rubbish" is Castlevania for the Nintendo 64. I had a blast playing this game back then. Nowadays, every time I look at the cartridge, I go, "Why did I like it so much?!" Good grief....

You need to remember when these games were released.  FF7 was decent looking, as you mentioned, but it has an ok story as well.  I am not sure why it got so much attention.  It pulled me in somehow.  I agree that it is overrated, but it isn't really any worse than similar titles.

As for Castlevania, the early ones seem to me to be very much a product of their time.  I haven't kept up with them to see how (or if) things have changed, but those types of games are fun for a little bit.  Not so much for extended play.

 

[DatNOBoi]

I hope y'all got some more room on the Final Fantasy 7 Hatred Express.

A safe Top Ten pick for one of the most overrated games of all time. No question. "It made a broader audience fall in love with its niche!" Yeah, so did sliced bread, but you don't hear everyone and their nan going beserk about how revolutionary it was for "less wealthy" cuisine at the drop of the words "cheep food items."

If you stripped Final Fantasy 7 of its pretty graphics and decent character customization, both of which are the only distinguishing features of this game, it becomes yet another Final Fantasy. Also, an androgynous orphan with a fantasy sword that would make Guts chuckle is definitely not one of my favorite video game protagonists. "Badass super soldier?" Samus says hello. "But she's a bounty hunter, not a soldier!" Same purpose, different goals.

Also, my entry for "good games that are actually rubbish" is Castlevania for the Nintendo 64. I had a blast playing this game back then. Nowadays, every time I look at the cartridge, I go, "Why did I like it so much?!" Good grief....

1) You need to remember when these games were released.  FF7 was decent looking, as you mentioned, but it has an ok story as well.  I am not sure why it got so much attention.  It pulled me in somehow.  I agree that it is overrated, but it isn't really any worse than similar titles.

2) As for Castlevania, the early ones seem to me to be very much a product of their time.  I haven't kept up with them to see how (or if) things have changed, but those types of games are fun for a little bit.  Not so much for extended play.

I didn't want nuance taking anything away from my point, but I did briefly touch upon the context of the game's release (hence my "sliced bread" analogy). Also, it's not any worse than similar titles, but it ain't like it's LEAGUES better than any of them either!

There's more than a metric ton of games that aren't meant for extended play, but I don't hold that against them. Sin & Punishment is one of the very best on-rails shooters I've ever played (hell, one of the best arcade-style games I've ever played), and I'm not too keen on throwing 8hr sessions at it.